NEW YORK CITY — The ex-NYPD officer dubbed the “Cannibal Cop” after prosecutors said he hatched a plot to kill, cook and eat women was cleared of all charges by a U.S. appeals court on Thursday.
Gilberto Valle was convicted in March 2013 of conspiracy to kidnap and illegally accessing an NYPD database that prosecutors said he used to gather information on potential targets.
Judge Paul G. Gardephe tossed out his conspiracy conviction last year.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision on Thursday, and also threw out the conviction of illegally accessing the database, ruling that the charge was too ambiguous.
“Because we agree that there was insufficient evidence as to the existence of a genuine agreement to kidnap and of Valle’s specific intent to commit a kidnapping, we affirm the district court’s judgment of acquittal on the conspiracy count,” the judges ruled.
